"Crazy, Wrecking Ball": US Senators Blast Saudi Prince Over Khashoggi

Angelo Bowers |Thursday, December 06, 2018

Khashoggi murder: CIA chief Haspel 'to brief Congress'

The CIA had already concluded with high confidence that the prince was behind the murder, but senators said Haspel provided a much more fulsome briefing than the one they had gotten from Cabinet officials, including new evidence.

The fierce spat between the White House and Congress has fueled new levels of support for a resolution that would demand an end to US involvement in the war in Yemen-a push that could trigger an unprecedented showdown over the USA government's authority to wage war.

Anyone who looked at the evidence would have to be "willfully blind" not to reach the conclusion that the killing was "orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS", as Salman is known, Graham said.

The killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, at Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul, has strained Saudi Arabia's ties with the West and battered the prince's image overseas. Lindsey Graham and Tennessee Sen.

Istanbul's chief prosecutor said there is a "strong suspicion" al-Qahtani and Ahmed al-Asiri planned the horrific murder at the Saudi consulate on October 2.

The US continues to provide Saudi Arabia with weapons and intelligence despite the atrocities in Yemen.

According to United States media reports, the Central Intelligence Agency had evidence that Prince Khalid had spoken to Khashoggi before his death and assured him that he would be able to visit the consulate, where he planned to go to get documents he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee, without any risk to himself.

The bipartisan group of senators also wants the release of blogger Raif Badawi, women's rights activists and other political prisoners detained in Saudi Arabia. Chris Murphy, a Democrat Connecticut who co-sponsored a bipartisan resolution calling for an end to the USA role in Yemen.

The resolution would also hold bin Salman responsible for the ongoing Saudi-led war on Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians and destroyed the impoverished country's infrastructure since its onset.

"Guilty", Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), who now chairs the Foreign Relations committee, said after the briefing. He said finding a compromise will be hard because some lawmakers don't want to tie Yemen to the Khashoggi killing.

"It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event", Trump said in a lengthy statement November 20. "Maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"

"They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran", Trump said in the statement.

The United States now provides arms shipments and logistical support including intelligence and targeting assistance to the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries.

A senior Turkish official Wednesday said the prosecutor's move "reflects the view that the Saudi authorities won't take formal action against those individuals".

Some 14 million people face starvation, and recent studies estimate 85,000 children under five have starved to death.

"If our government knows that Saudi leaders were involved in the murder of a USA resident, why shouldn't the public know this?" "After all, someone's got to do it".

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